The NFL implemented a controversial roughing the passer penalty this offseason. Nobody, not even the officials, can really say what does and doesn’t constitute roughing the passer anymore.
You can read the rule in its entirety here. The new emphasis this season restricts tacklers from landing on top of a quarterback with his full, or most of his, body weight, something that defies the laws of physics.
This week the rule put Clay Matthews and the Packers in the spotlight again, for all the wrong reasons. But the controversy over the rule hasn’t just engulfed the Packers. The fallout is being felt all over the league, from locker rooms to owners suites to broadcast booths and for fans.
And don’t worry, if you’re team hasn’t fallen victim to the rule yet, it’s just a matter a time.
Three weeks into the season, the rule’s impact is changing the game, and not for positive reasons.
The rule is having an impact on the outcome of games
No team has been hurt more by the new “body weight” penalty than the Green Bay Packers. Last week, in their overtime tie against the Minnesota Vikings, Matthews was called for a dubious roughing the passer penalty against Kirk Cousins.
La pénalité en question. Clay Matthews fou de rage après le match. Compréhensible pic.twitter.com/xsaCXeLxkL
— NFL France (@FirstDownFR) September 16, 2018
The Packers intercepted the ball on this play. They were up 29-21 with 1:45 left in the fourth quarter and the interception was returned deep into Vikings’ territory. It was a game-winning play for Green Bay that ended up being a 15-yard gain for the Vikings.
In that same game, Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks was also flagged for roughing the passer for a fairly routine tackle on Aaron Rodgers. The flag extended the drive, and the Packers came away with a field goal.
After Matthews’ penalty in Week 2, Minnesota went drove down the field and scored a touchdown and a two point conversion, tying the game at 29 as the game entered overtime. Neither team scored in the extra frame, and the Vikings missed a game-winning kick that locked in a tie.
But the damage was done.
If the Packers had won that game, they would have sole possession of first place in the NFC North with a record of 2-1 — instead they’re tied with the Vikings, who could have been in the same situation had they won that game. Now, Minnesota is also 1-1-1 after their loss against the Buffalo Bills this week.
The Browns got burned by the rule too
This is going to sound crazy, but the Cleveland Browns had some bad penalty luck. In their Week 1 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns were hit with a questionable roughing the passer call against when Ben Roethlisberger was tackled by Myles Garrett right as he released the ball.
Für diesen Hit gegen Ben Roethlisberger hatte Myles Garrett Anfang des 2. Viertels (INC bei 3rd & 7 an der CLE 8) den Roughing The Passer Penalty bekommen = 1st Down Steelers an der CLE 4.
— René Bugner (Rainbowcave) (@RNBWCV) September 13, 2018
Al Riveron hat später bestätigt, dass der Call der Refs falsch war. Kein Penalty.#ranNFL pic.twitter.com/1QXgptyuae
This play set up the Steelers at the Browns’ four-yard line with a new set of downs and they scored on the next play with a four-yard run by James Conner. If the call wasn’t made, the Steelers would’ve had to settle for a field goal, which would have helped the Browns possibly avoid a 21-21 tie that week and maybe even win the game.
Yes, the Browns could have been 2-1 right now.
For what it’s worth, the NFL’s head of officiating, Al Riveron, actually said the officials got this one wrong.
“Well, they have to not put the weight on the quarterback. And this one (on Garrett) yesterday showed, even though there is some body weight on (Steelers quarterback) Ben (Roethlisberger), this is not what we would consider contact that rises to the level of a foul.”
At least a tie is better than an outright loss, especially for the Browns.
Clay Matthews is confused and so is everybody else
Clay Matthews got hit with another roughing the passer call this week after landing on top of Washington’s Alex Smith during a sack. That’s the third time in three weeks for the Packers pass rusher. It’s almost like he’s being targeted.
This week, Matthews had a big sack on second-and-7 that would’ve made for an extremely difficult third down for Washington, but the officials flagged him for using his bodyweight to bring Smith down.
This is roughing the passer, apparently.
— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) September 23, 2018
Clay Matthews is no longer allowed to sack QBs. pic.twitter.com/Zp09o14gEx
“I had judged that the defender landed on the quarterback when he was tackling him with most or all of his body weight, and that’s not allowed,” referee Craig Wrolstad said, via the Washington Post. “If you do that, it’s roughing the passer. So that was basically my key, that he landed on him with most or all of his body weight and that was my ruling, roughing the passer.”
The NFL endorsed the Wrolstad’s call almost immediately after the game, because they have to defend the referees they’ve confused the hell out of with these confusing rule changes.
A frustrated Matthews sounded even more frustrated and confused this week than he did last week.
“I said that in weeks prior. But when you have a hit like that, that’s a football play,” Matthews said after the game.
“I even went up to Alex Smith after the game and asked him, ‘What do you think? What can I do differently?’ Because that’s a football play. Like I said last week, the NFL is going to come back and say I put my body on him. But that’s a football play.”
He also punched back.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know. Unfortunately this league is going in a direction I think a lot of people don’t like. I think they’re getting soft,” he added.
He wasn’t the only one visibly frustrated by the call this week.
Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy was pissed — he got in the face of the officials after the call.
Mike McCarthy did not hold back after the referees call another roughing the passer on Clay Matthews #Packers pic.twitter.com/OtaNzh8oo2
— Stephen Watson (@WISN_Watson) September 23, 2018
While Matthews has now become the poster child for the NFL’s new most-hated rule, he’s not the only one who’s fed up with it after just three weeks.
Everyone hates the rule
Not every defensive player may be as frustrated as Matthews by the rule, but you’ll be hard pressed to find one who’ll actually defend it. Washington cornerback Josh Norman shared in the confusion after this week’s game.
“What do you want him to do? There was no vicious intent. It was a nice form tackle,” he said about the Matthews hit.
Quarterbacks don’t like it either.
“Listen, this is football, man. We all sign up to get hit. We all sign up [knowing] you might get hurt,” Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco said last week. “It’s a violent sport. It’s meant to be that way.”
Aaron Rodgers, who the rule was altered for in the first place, poked holes in the logic of it last week after the Vikings game.
“They’re trying to think about the process of the game and the safety and stuff, but it’s still a collision sport and those, to me, are not penalties” the Packers QB said.
But if there’s any hope that the rule’s going to get fixed, owners will ultimately have to take action. There was one very powerful owner taking issue with it on Sunday.
“That was not roughing the passer under the existing rules,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said after Tryone Crawford was flagged for it in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks.
It’s maddeningly inconsistent
The calls the referees do make for roughing the passer are confusing enough. Physics made Matthews’ hit on Kirk Cousins last week that much worse than it actually was. This week, while the Packers defense fell victim to the new rule, refs completely missed a call that actually should have been flagged when Washington defensive tackle Daron Payne slammed Aaron Rodgers to the ground.
Daron Payne's first career sack. Catches the RG lunging, drops his hands and rips through. Nice job wrapping up Rodgers too. #Redskins pic.twitter.com/rTqtSxlJWk
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) September 23, 2018
The spirit of the rule is to take the excessively violent hits on quarterbacks out of the game. Payne’s tackle, where he spins Rodgers around and throws him down so his head hits the turf could legitimately have drawn a flag for roughing the passer.
This is the problem with a rule like this, a vague one that sets a broad definition without offering officials any kind of clarity what it is the rule hopes to accomplish.
And when officials can’t consistently apply a rule because they don’t know what the hell the rule is, it leads to a bigger problem for the league.
The NFL still ‘can’t get out of its own way’
Remember how many seasons it took for the NFL to finally get the catch rule right? Too many. It’s hard to watch a game when the people in charge of running it can’t decide on what constitutes one of the most basic, fundamental acts of playing it.
The league’s back in the same situation with its new roughing the passer rule — legalese in the rulebook overruling common sense. Like the catch rule, this one is also changing the outcome of games.
Quarterbacks are the most marketable assets the NFL has, so the league needs to keep them on the field. The NFL also needs to make the sport safer for players. But it has to do so in a way that makes sense, not with another confusing, inconsistently applied rule that changes the outcome of games on a technicality.
“The league just can’t seem to get out of their own way,” Fox’s Troy Aikman said during the broadcast of Sunday’s Cowboys-Seahawks game. “I mean, the helmet rule that they put in and caused a lot of controversy throughout the preseason, and then this rule. I don’t get it.”
An injured quarterback will eventually return. Fans frustrated by their team’s losing because of rule they don’t understand might not.
For now, this penalty is something that defenders are going to have to deal with until the NFL has a chance to review the rule in the offseason. It’s almost impossible to tackle someone without using your bodyweight, but for now defensive players around the league will have to figure out another way to bring the quarterback down. Maybe they can just ask them politely to take the sack.